Japanese Sewer History
Making Great
Breakthroughs - All about the Sewage Works in Japan (Japan
Sewage Works Association: Tokyo, ca. 2002), pp. 46-47.
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| Japanese Sewer History |
| 1583 | Stone culvert built around Osaka Castle (Taiko Sewerage) |
| 1873 | Sewer pipes built in the Ginza region of Tokyo (open sewage ditches covered) |
| 1881 | Sewerage system constructed in foreigners' settlement in Yokohama |
| 1884 | Sewerage system constructed in Kanda, Tokyo |
| 1894 | City of Osaka started water supply and Sewerage system improvement project |
| 1895 | Honda Pumping Station completed in Osaka (first pumping station in Japan) |
| 1900 | Old version of Sewerage Law promulgated; Filth Cleaning Law promulgated |
| 1922 | Mikawasima Wastewater Treatment Plant in Tokyo started operations |
| 1930 | Activated sludge process started at Horidome and Atsuta Treatment Plant in Nagoya |
| 1948 | First public Sewerage system project after WWII started by Fukui City |
| 1952 | Local Public Enterprise law established |
| 1958 | New Sewerage Law promulgated |
| 1962 | Sewerage-related administration procedures centralized in the Ministry of Construction |
| 1963 | First Five-Year Program for Sewerage Construction established |
| 1964 | Japan Sewage Works Association established |
| 1965 | Regional Sewerage system construction at Neya River Basin started |
| 1970 | Sewerage Law revised: Water Pollution Control Law promulgated |
| 1971 | Sewerage and Sewage Purification Department established in the Ministry of Construction (currently the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport) |
| 1972 | Sewage Works Center started (Currently Japan Sewage Works Agency) |
| 1975 | Basinwide Sewerage Division established in the Sewerage and Sewage Purification Department in the Ministry of Construction |
| 1984 | Law Concerning Special Measures for Conservation of Lake Water Quality established |
| 1996 | Sewerage System Law amended to allow general telecommunications companies use of optical fiber cables inside sewer pipes |
| 2000 | Percentage of sewered population reached 60% |
History of Sewage Works by City (1870-1900)
| City | Year | Event |
| Tokyo | 1872-1875 | Western-style ditches constructed in the Ginza area after a big fire |
| 1884-1885 | Brick and ceramic sewer pipes added in Kanda | |
| 1908 | Sewerage System Basic Plan established; the system (subject population: 3 million, area: 5,670 hectares) is the base of today's systems. | |
| 1911 | Construction started. (The First Sewer System Improvement Project) | |
| Yokohama | 1881 | The first sewerage system in Japan built |
| Osaka | 1894 | Spurred by outbreaks of cholera
in 1886 and 1890, construction began; by 1899, construction in almost all
parts of the old section of the city was finished. |
| 1909 | A survey to study the existing system, which was intended to be only temporary, started in 1906. Reconstruction started in 1909 and finished in 1923. This is the foundation of the current system. | |
| Sendei | 1899 | Construction started |
| Hiroshima | 1908 | Construction started |
| Nagoya | 1908 | Construction started |
History of the Wastewater Treatment Process
| Year | City | Treatment Plant | Treatment Process |
| 1922 | Tokyo | Mikawashima | Standard-rate trickling filter process |
| 1930 | Nagoya | Horidome | Diffused aeration activated sludge process |
| 1908 | Nagoya | Atsuta | Diffused aeration activated sludge process |
| 1933 | Nagoya | Tsuyuhashi | Primary treatment Diffused aeration activated sludge process |
| 1934 | Kyoto | Kisshoin | Diffused aeration activated sludge process |
| 1935 | Toyohashi | Noda | Mechanical activated sludge process |
| 1937 | Gifu | Chubu | Diffused aeration activated sludge process |
| 1937 | Tokyo | Shibaura | Mechanical activated sludge process |
| 1938 | Kyoto | Toba | Diffused aeration activated sludge process |
| 1940 | Osaka | Tsumori | Diffused aeration activated sludge process |
| 1940 | Osaka | Ebie | Diffused aeration activated sludge process |
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